BOB VERDI SAYS NHL AT OLYMPICS "ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING"

The NHL's participation in the Olympics is examined by
Bob Verdi of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Verdi: "Hockey wants so
badly to be like other sports that it is trying the worst
way possible: by joining Olympic overkill. ... Pro hockey
players don't belong in the Winter Olympics." Verdi adds
that while some of Commissioner Gary Bettman's "strategies
to elevate hockey's profile have worked ... [t]he Olympic
interval is totally unnecessary and potentially damaging to
the NHL." By closing down the league for 2 1/2 weeks "the
NHL could lose its already tenuous grasp on the American
public. Canada won't be a problem, but in the United
States, the competition is fierce from basketball, pro and
college." Another "downside risk" for the NHL is that the
season will run too late. Verdi: "[T]he NHL still has too
much to prove in North America. The Olympic diversion
accomplishes nothing" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/30).
OLYMPIC TESTING: On CNNSI.com, Michael Farber writes
that the NHL and NHLPA "have identified players who could
make their countries' Olympic teams in Nagano next February
and have asked them to provide urine samples to get them
used to Olympic drug testing procedures." Farber adds that
"total confidentiality has been assured" (CNNSI.com, 9/25).
JAPAN GAMES: In Toronto, Randy Starkman writes on the
NHL doubleheader in Japan this weekend between the Canucks
and Mighty Ducks. While the games are "guaranteed sellouts
at the 10,000-seat Yoyogi Stadium," the holdout of the
Ducks' Paul Kariya, who is of Japanese descent, "will be the
story in hockey articles written" this week in the Japanese
press. Starkman: "This could defeat the NHL's purpose in
starting its season in Tokyo: to expand its markets and grow
the game of hockey" (TORONTO STAR, 9/30).